Census says number of vacant homes doubled in some towns

Thursday

Mar 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMMar 31, 2011 at 9:55 PM

The number of vacant houses, apartments and condominiums in Massachusetts spiked by more than 80,000 in the past decade, according to the 2010 federal Census, apparently driven by the mortgage crisis and recession.

David Riley

The number of vacant houses, apartments and condominiums in Massachusetts spiked by more than 80,000 in the past decade, according to the 2010 federal Census, apparently driven by the mortgage crisis and recession.

Many towns and cities in the eastern part of the state saw their number of empty homes double since 2000, according to Census results released last week.

But some communities have many more vacant dwellings than others. Census takers recorded less than 3 percent of the housing stock as unoccupied in places like Holliston, Norfolk and Medfield, but said one in 10 homes is empty in Fall River, Fairhaven and elsewhere.

The data does not differentiate between rentals and owner-occupied homes, nor between homes that are abandoned and those for sale or for rent. The Census plans to release more detailed results at a later date.

Kevin Sears, past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said foreclosures have left homes empty across the real estate market. The mortgage crisis first seemed to hit multi-family homes the hardest, but as the recession took hold, foreclosures spread, he said.

“We were finally seeing the foreclosures hitting the middle-class family, the single-families in the nice neighborhoods, where people didn’t expect that sort of thing,” said Sears, who was the association’s president last year. “Folks are losing their jobs. The next thing they’re going to lose is their house.”

Overall, Massachusetts has added 186,265 homes since 2000, for a total of 2.8 million units.

A higher percentage of the total homes in the state were reported vacant in the new Census – 9.3 percent, or 261,179 units – compared to 6.8 percent, or 178,409 units, in 2000.

Barry Bluestone, dean of public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University, said while some states might have built too many new homes in the last decade, that does not appear to be the case in Massachusetts. Foreclosures are likely a bigger factor in rising vacancies, he said.

Compared to other states, Massachusetts seems to fare comparatively well in terms of empty homes. Its vacancy ranks 46th lowest among the 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, according to the 2010 Census.

Susan Strate, Population Estimates Program manager at the UMass Donahue Institute, said more detailed Census data will eventually shed more light on the state’s housing position.

“Without knowing the full story, if housing vacancy rate is a sign of economic downturn and burst of housing bubble, Massachusetts looks to be in a better position than most by far,” Strate said.

In the Bay State, where seasonal homes dot the Berkshires, Cape Cod, islands and other areas, the Census data comes with a major caveat: It does not distinguish between vacant houses or apartments and vacation homes, which may simply have been unoccupied when the national survey was carried out.

“Seasonal, recreational or occasional vacant houses were prevalent in April 2010, especially in resort areas where there are cottages, condominia and homes that are used only during the given tourist season,” Census Director Robert M. Groves wrote in a February blog post.

In towns with many vacation homes, Census vacancy rates can be a misleading measure of the housing crisis, Groves warned. The Census reported vacancy rates as high as 68 percent in Barnstable County towns Wellfleet and Truro, and 61 percent in Provincetown.

However, most Cape towns and Nantucket showed higher percentages of homes recorded as vacant in last year’s Census than in 2000. In another indication that the housing crisis hit Barnstable County, too, the Registry of Deeds there reported more than 700 foreclosure deeds filed in 2010 as of last December.

In Middlesex County, 5.1 percent of homes were recorded as empty, up from 2.7 percent a decade ago. Some of the lowest rates turned up in Sudbury, Holliston, Billerica, Reading, Tewksbury, Hopkinton and Ashland. Lincoln had a higher rate – 8.1 percent – while Cambridge and Concord neared 7 percent.

Marlborough’s vacancy rate was 6.2 percent, more than double the 2.7 percent recorded in 2000. Code Enforcement Officer Pam Wilderman largely chalked the increase up to foreclosures.

“In the city on any given moment, I’m looking at 120 to 180 living units in some form of the foreclosure process,” she said.

Getting a home back on the market can take time, depending on whose hands it lands in and what problems may have cropped up while it was vacant, from broken water pipes to mold, she said.

In Bristol County, vacancies reached 7.6 percent, with Westport, Fall River and Fairhaven seeing the highest numbers. At the bottom of the list are Raynham, Berkley and Easton.

The Census said 9.5 percent of homes in Plymouth County are vacant, but the problem with vacation homes crops up here, too. Brockton had a vacancy rate of 6.3 percent.

The city at one point topped the state for its foreclosure rate, and while recent reports show foreclosures have slowed, more will come, said Brian Moriarty, director of Neighborhood Housing Services in Brockton.

“The data coming forward now, it’s just a lull,” said Moriarty, whose agency offers services ranging from foreclosure counseling to homebuyer education. “We’re going to see another influx of new foreclosure filings.”

Essex County, where vacation homes may skew some results as well, had a vacancy rate of 6.8 percent. Worcester County’s vacancy rate was slightly higher, at 7.3 percent.

Norfolk County had the lowest rate in the state – 4.6 percent – with the town of Norfolk at the bottom of the list at 2.3 percent. Higher were Needham at 7 percent and Cohasset at 8.7 percent.

David Raymondo, president of the Greater Fall River Association of Realtors, said he sees positive signs despite his city’s comparatively high vacancy rate of 10 percent.

He noted the Census shows the city added nearly 1,000 housing units since 2000, yet its vacancy rate changed little – not bad during a recession, he said. Some abandoned properties are selling and new foreclosures have slowed down. Pending sales are up.

“I think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

(David Riley can be reached at 508-626-3919 or driley@wickedlocal.com.)